Journal

Brill Book Series

Haymarket Paperbacks

Volume 37, Issue 3: Good for Capitalists, Not So Much for Capitalism

We live in truly bizarre times. In the midst of what everyone routinely refers to as a major economic crisis, with the unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent and ever more people leave the ranks of the unemployed discouraged and resigned to never finding another job, and when fis- cal austerity is the word of the day because governments at all levels are reeling under the burden of declining revenues, we receive startling news. Quarterly profit figures for corporations are once more at pre-crisis levels. The Obama Administration conceded major tax benefits to the wealthy over the next two years while getting a meager concession to extend special unemployment bene- fits for another 13 months. Wall Street is giving out record bonuses and partying like, well, like it is 2007…